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Her voice breaks and she cuts herself off, needing a moment to calm the overwhelming emotions of having to relive that night. “I was the one who took you. It was a miracle that you had survived the smoke inhalation and I couldn’t bear anything else happening to you, so I strapped you into your father’s SUV and I took off. Tobias King was coming in just as I was leaving and he told me to take you somewhere safe and that he would handle the rest, and he did just that.”
My chest constricts, the pain too much to handle, knowing that still to this day, Dianna Danforth trusts that Tobias King had good intentions.
“You were the one who cared for me?” I ask her.
“I was,” she whispers. “I moved you into my family's holiday home and hired a full-time nanny who watched you when I couldn’t be there, but it was too dangerous. I stayed with you for two months and that time together was enough to bond us and I looked at you as my own daughter, still to this day I think of you as my own, but it was too dangerous. Dynasty was divided. The corruption knew no bounds as everyone fought for leadership. It was a constant battle and I knew that if word got out that you had survived that night, you would have been targeted, and you were too young to fight for your life. I had to send you away, and that decision has crippled me every day since.”
Tears stream down my face and it’s not until they splash against my hands that I even realize just how much I’m crying.
“I met with Tobias and together we agreed to put you into foster care and destroy any trail so that you could not be found, and I always wondered how they kept finding you, until I realized that it was Royston who had killed your parents. He left you alive, and he was the reason that you spent eighteen years running. Well, he and Paris.”
I nod, having already known all about Royston’s part in all of this. Hell, I knew so much that I took a dagger and killed him with it—a move that still keeps me warm at night.
“I’m so sorry, Elodie,” Dianna murmurs. “I should have told you about it all that first time I saw you at my home with Cruz, but I was in shock seeing your beautiful face. You looked so much like your mom that it just kinda threw me off a bit, and on top of that, I didn’t want to upset you. You were so happy with Cruz. It truly was an amazing sight. I’m so glad that the two of you have found one another. Screw the Dynasty traditions. You two together is like a fairytale.”
My cheeks flush with the brightest pink and I find myself glancing away. “I’ve always wondered who looked after me for those few short months.”
“Well, now you know,” she tells me, squeezing my hand again. “I’m always going to look at you like a long-lost daughter, so it’s important to me that you know that you are always welcome in my home. I will drop everything to help you when you need it, all you have to do is ask.”
I lean in and wrap my arms around her. “Thank you,” I murmur, turning into a blubbering mess as another piece of the intricate puzzle otherwise known as my life finally falls into place, a piece that for once is actually welcomed.
CHAPTER 19
“You’re an even bigger fool than I thought if you think I’m going to vote for that monstrosity,” Harlen Beckett roars, flying to his feet and glaring across the wide table at Earnest Brooks, making Grayson groan in frustration at having everybody dealing with his father’s tantrum. “That idiot will have the whole organization crumbling and exposed in days. He’s never been able to keep his mouth shut.”
I moan and drop my head to the table. This bullshit has been going on for hours. I walked in here at ten this morning and after Dianna and Earnest’s wife knocked on the door to bring up a platter of wraps and sandwiches, I realized that it was already after two in the afternoon. That was hours ago now.
My ass is cramping and my body is aching to move around. The boys have stuck to their promise of training me to fight and the past few days have left my body aching from my workouts, though the ache is just a reminder that I’m working on myself and that bitches like Paris will never beat me again. But then there are times like this when you’re stuck in the same fucking chair for hours on end and it sucks harder than Cruz on Carver’s dick. Well, not that I’ve ever seen that, but I have the vision in my head and that’s exactly where I’m going to keep it. After all, we all need something to keep us warm at night.
